Plug-in hybrid brought back Touareg, Lexus RX now also as PHEV
The Volkswagen Touareg has not been delivered in the Netherlands for a number of years. With the facelift, the brand added plug-in hybrid technology to the large SUV and that made it interesting for our market again. A year ago, Lexus did this for the first time with the RX. Which of these two outsiders in the top SUV segment should you have?
Outsiders, what do you mean?
German premium brands rule the roost in this class. The BMW X5, the Porsche Cayenne and the Mercedes-Benz GLE-class are usually high on the wish list, and the same goes for the Audi Q7 and Q8. Lexus has been trying to play a role in this class with the RX for decades. It introduced a large SUV at about the same time as Mercedes-Benz and BMW in the late 1990s; Porsche and Volkswagen arrived a little later with the first Cayenne and Touareg respectively. But they have now been a household name for more than twenty years. In the Netherlands, this was the case with the supersized Volkswagen until 2020, but then the importer decided to cancel the Touareg in our country. As a result, the current generation, which was presented in 2019, only lasted a year in the showrooms – only to return last year after a refresh. He owes this return to the arrival of plug-in hybrid technology.
What about the Lexus RX, which was always available as a hybrid?
Beats. In the noughties there was already such a Lexus RX with a hybrid drivetrain. We are now many generations further. For example, the Lexus RX was launched in 2022 in a completely new guise, and this model was equipped with plug-in hybrid technology for the first time. It had of course been available as a normal hybrid for a long time; Lexus was even the first in this segment to use the powertrain of an electric motor that works together with a combustion engine.
How do you recognize a Touareg after the facelift?
You can clearly see that the Volkswagen Touareg has been freshened up. On this Elegance, one of the two versions you can get in the Netherlands, the chrome shines. The grille now extends further, across the width of the front to below the new headlights. And in line with other modern Volkswagens, there is a light bar between the lights. If even a Polo has that, you obviously can’t leave it out on the top SUV model. At the rear the light show is even bigger, because in addition to a red light bar between the rear lights, there is also a red Volkswagen logo. That and the new bumpers make the Touareg easily recognizable as a 2024 model.
Why add a Lexus RX? That’s a completely different car, isn’t it?
The Lexus RX certainly doesn’t have to rely on special light shows. The brand’s design is characterized by striking lines and the large grille makes the front almost aggressive. The muscularity oozes from it, and the sloping roofline keeps the car in profile somewhere in between the so-called SUV and SUV Coupé. Volkswagen and Lexus only have the first concept. Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche do offer the option: an SUV with a normal roofline (in the case of BMW, the X5) and an SUV with a sloping roof (X6, Audi Q8, Mercedes GLE Coupé, Cayenne Coupé). The angular and chunky appearance makes the Touareg seem much larger than the RX, but it doesn’t make much difference. The Lexus is only an centimeter shorter, slightly less wide, but 1.7 centimeters lower. And the wheelbase is 5 centimeters shorter. Under the aggressive front lies a 2.5 four-cylinder that is linked to an electric motor via a planetary gear system. A second electric motor is located at the rear axle and those two motors contribute most to the system power. Together they generate 236 hp; the four-cylinder produces 185 hp. The combined power that Lexus specifies is 309 hp. A lot less than Volkswagen promises for the Elegance, the plug-in hybrid with a system power of 381 hp. This is achieved by the 3.0 V6 TSI, a blown V6 that already delivers 340 hp, and an electric motor that generates 136 hp. The Touareg also has a more powerful variant of this plug-in hybrid drivetrain, linked to the R trim and good for 462 hp. But those capabilities were of course not the reason for bringing the Touareg back to the Netherlands. Because they are able to cover electric kilometers with a charged battery pack, you pay considerably less BPM. Volkswagen states an electric range of 50 kilometers for this Touareg. Lexus predicts 69 kilometers in ideal conditions.
We will tell you what this is in practice in this video and of course there is also a free downloadable PDF below this article, for which you must be a logged in user.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl